Supermarkets Waste Tons Of Food As They Woo Shoppers

[Sherman A1]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/25/351495274/supermarkets-waste-tons-of-food-as-they-woo-shoppers?

Supermarkets and restaurants serve up more than 400 million pounds of food each year, but nearly a third of it never makes it to a stomach.

With consumers demanding large displays of unblemished, fresh produce, many retailers end up tossing a mountain of perfectly edible food. Despite efforts to cut down on all that waste, in the U.S., the consumer end of the food chain still accounts for the largest share. It comes down to shoppers demanding stocked shelves, buying too much and generally treating food as a renewable resource.

A recent visit to the Hy-Vee supermarket in Independence, Mo., illustrates the problem. Shopper Shirley Phelps scans the banana stand, looking for the perfect bunch.

"I don't want them too ripe," she says, skipping over brown-spotted bananas in favor of a bunch still tinged with green.

[reddread]

1. i call that opportunity

Food Not Bombs

[NaturalHigh]

2. I was thinking about this the other day at our local store.

There is a big cooler cabinet with aged steaks. I wonder how many of those get thrown out rather than sold. It would surprise me if half of them are actually sold to customers.

What a waste.

[pipoman]

3. The steaks will more than likely end up in frozen chub hamburger. ..

[NaturalHigh]

4. Maybe so.

That's better than just throwing them out. If I worked in the meat department, I would gladly give them to somebody before I would toss them in the trash.

[pipoman]

7. There are department of ag regs about giving food away

There are use by dates, after that they must be destroyed. Most meat departments freeze late date meat before the use by date, then use it internally like for stir fry or a deli counter. Once the meat is cooked it extends the life for 3 more days.

[NaturalHigh]

8. Very true, and that was a bit of an off-the-cuff statement I made.

No, I wouldn't actually give out-of-date meat to anyone, but I would certainly do my best to make sure it went to someone hungry (before the expiration date) before I threw it out.

[Sherman A1]

6. Not necessarily

There are all sorts of health department rules, food safety policies that probably prevent that from happening. Hopefully, those items will be marked down as their shelf date comes close and if not sold given to a food bank.

[pipoman]

9. It varies a little from state to state

But national USDA rules allow for fresh to frozen sales both at the wholesale and retail level. There are standards for fresh to frozen. Iirc California requires it be frozen to -10 for a specified time, this process kills bacteria. ..it is the same process used for raw food consumption like sushi or tartare.

[Sherman A1]

12. Agreed

and by both local health departments along with various company policies as well. Food safety is a huge concern at many of these chains and none want to get their name in the news with an avoidable issue.

[pipoman]

5. The banana example is silly

Bananas ripen quite quickly. The shopper probably eats a banana or two per day so wanted to make sure they last. The next shopper wants them for a salad or banana bread today, they will buy the more ripened ones. I see some in the bargain area that are on their last day...usually not too many.

I also don't buy the 1/3 number thrown around, anyone know the source of that? Restaurants and grocery stores have to buy food, they aren't about throwing money away any more than anyone else.

[Demit]

10. That's broken out later in the article

"A full 10 percent of the available food supply in the U.S. is wasted every year at the retail level, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and about 20 percent is wasted at home."

The benefits of actually reading the article!

[Trillo]

11. Or its because prices are too high.

A local market I shop at has large dumpsters, which I use sort or regularly to throw away cigarette package cellophane, and I see old food that has gone bad, particularly produce, pretty regularly. In an effort to slow this, for example, when their bananas get too black spotted and old, they have a firesale on them, putting them in a grocery cart at half off or similar, but I still don't think they sell much of it once its gotten that old. I've often thought it's too bad someone doesn't have a 50 lb bag of flour and a large planetary mixer, to make a huge batch of banana bread. The flour wouldn't be very costly, but the oil or butter would be.

[seveneyes]

13. "treating food as a renewable resource"

Added to the WTF list of statements.